What light bar spectrum to add to existing lights?

[aaron186]

I have 3 reefi uno pro 2s over a 4 ft tank but I’m getting some shadowing issues. I have the 90 degree reflectors on the tank. I want to add 2 quantas bars or similar to use as fill lighting.

I’m running close to the AB+ spectrum using reefis default SPS program. I’m only running the lights at about 40% intensity and getting 350 par. It’s a bit too blue but my corals look great. I want to run the tank a little whiter but not much. I plan to only use the bars during peak hours

Should I add a full spectrum whiter light to my reefis (will dim the lights to keep similar par). Or should I add AB+ spectrum bars and then boost the whites on my Reefi?

What’s the best practice when adding an LED bar to puck style lights?

 

[twentyleagues]

I have 3 reefi uno pro 2s over a 4 ft tank but I’m getting some shadowing issues. I have the 90 degree reflectors on the tank. I want to add 2 quantas bars or similar to use as fill lighting.

I’m running close to the AB+ spectrum using reefis default SPS program. I’m only running the lights at about 40% intensity and getting 350 par. It’s a bit too blue but my corals look great. I want to run the tank a little whiter but not much. I plan to only use the bars during peak hours

Should I add a full spectrum whiter light to my reefis (will dim the lights to keep similar par). Or should I add AB+ spectrum bars and then boost the whites on my Reefi?

What’s the best practice when adding an LED bar to puck style lights?

I am in the same boat and I think I am going to go with a slighter blue bar and make the reefi a little more white. I have not decided on bars yet. Thinking like you quanta or blades. If I go blades I will have adjustability in color there also. In the past I ran either t5 or t5/halide combo and I always tried to use 14k phoenix halides and blue+/actinic t5s, the 14k and t5 combo looks so good I am hoping to replicate that though the shimmer is different.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I run 3 UNO 2.0s on my 6 foot SPS tank. The UNOs are set to blue and T5 and halides provide the whites.

They may be out of fashion, but T5 are awesome for SPS.

Most people supplementing puck style lights run blue LED bars these days.

 

[aaron186]

I run 3 UNO 2.0s on my 6 foot SPS tank. The UNOs are set to blue and T5 and halides provide the whites.

They may be out of fashion, but T5 are awesome for SPS.

Most people supplementing puck style lights run blue LED bars these days.

Thanks. If I use my reefis to control the blues and bars for the white, should I just turn all the whites off on my Reefi?

I run bluer spectrum in morning and evening and fuller during peaks. So should I just keep the blue the same/ramped and turn on white bars during my peak time?

 

[aaron186]

Attached current light spectrum if that helps

 

[bobnicaragua]

Thanks. If I use my reefis to control the blues and bars for the white, should I just turn all the whites off on my Reefi?

I run bluer spectrum in morning and evening and fuller during peaks. So should I just keep the blue the same/ramped and turn on white bars during my peak time?

That’s the way I do it with T5 and halides. I keep the UNOs pretty much blue all day.

If you go with all white LED bars, that’s going to be very white. Make sure that’s what you want. With blue LED bars you can dial in the amount of whites using the UNOs. It would be more tunable.

 

[DanyL]

Just my opinion - the Unos can reach a far better looking spectrum to emulate whites than most other LEDs in the market can, so I would prefer them to control the look and feel, while having the bars only temporarily turn on when needed with some blue/purple tones which could be masked by the unos in either direction.

 

[aaron186]

Just my opinion - the Unos can reach a far better looking spectrum to emulate whites than most other LEDs in the market can, so I would prefer them to control the look and feel, while having the bars only temporarily turn on when needed with some blue/purple tones which could be masked by the unos in either direction.

Im curious how you run your reefis?
Would you go with an AB+ spectrum bar or something that is more blue?

 

[DanyL]

I would personally go with something neutral in the Blue/Purple spectrum, AB+ should be fine.

I use ReeFis alone on both of my tanks, with no additional supplementation.

On my frag tank - 4ft long (42” removing the double wall section on the side) :
- 2 ReeFi Uno 2.0, mounted ~20” above water line, using 90 degree reeflectors and peaking at 219W each.

On my main tank:
- 2 ReeFi Uno 2.0, mounted around 12” above water line, using 90 degree reeflectors and peaking at 130W each
- 3 ReeFi Uno gen 1, mounted 12” above water line, peaking at around 150-160W each.

I’m still getting a bit of shading on my main tank though, and I do plan to get another Uno 2 + use an additional Uno 1 I have to provide a more even blanket.

 

[DanyL]

I just realized I forgot to attach my settings in my last reply and can’t edit anymore.

That’s my peak hour configuration, same one is used for both frag tank and main system (albeit with a reduced master for main).

 

[twentyleagues]

I just realized I forgot to attach my settings in my last reply and can’t edit anymore.

That’s my peak hour configuration, same one is used for both frag tank and main system (albeit with a reduced master for main).

Do you know what your peak par is? That has to be pretty high.

 

[DanyL]

Approx 1000-260 PAR top to bottom on both.

Edit: I checked against my notes, and apparently the frag tank is hitting 360 at the bottom.

Also, it’s good to note that both are SPS dominant tanks, and I wouldn’t try to replicate the same numbers with a higher ratio of blues to the rest of the spectrum, because my speculation was that the high PAR numbers we always seen with MH were possible because of the fuller spectrum it provided, and I was able to somewhat confirm this in practice.

 

[twentyleagues]

Approx 1000-260 PAR top to bottom on both.

Edit: I checked against my notes, and apparently the frag tank is hitting 360 at the bottom.

Also, it’s good to note that both are SPS dominant tanks, and I wouldn’t try to replicate the same numbers with a higher ratio of blues to the rest of the spectrum, because my speculation was that the high PAR numbers we always seen with MH were possible because of the fuller spectrum it provided, and I was able to somewhat confirm this in practice.

When I got my 2.0 being only a year back in I played around with it before corals were in the tank. I noticed very little par difference in adding the white channels, maybe 20%. I cranked the rb, v, b, 420, 400 I only went to 220w and I was getting readings on the sand in the mid 400 range. I added some whites and a little green maybe less than 50% and par only went to a little over 500. I opted for one of the presets and added some white and green for looks. I dont think my lower end spectrum is over 50% on any of those channels rn. I'll have to look at my settings again its been awhile I think I am at 160w at peak, I am at high 200s at the top of the rock. I am using the 120 degree reeflector.

 

[DanyL]

When I got my 2.0 being only a year back in I played around with it before corals were in the tank. I noticed very little par difference in adding the white channels, maybe 20%. I cranked the rb, v, b, 420, 400 I only went to 220w and I was getting readings on the sand in the mid 400 range. I added some whites and a little green maybe less than 50% and par only went to a little over 500. I opted for one of the presets and added some white and green for looks. I dont think my lower end spectrum is over 50% on any of those channels rn. I'll have to look at my settings again its been awhile I think I am at 160w at peak, I am at high 200s at the top of the rock. I am using the 120 degree reeflector.

Yes, most of the PAR is indeed comes from the lower end of the spectrum, and that’s expected.

However, if you were referencing to my comment about using a PAR this high, than basically my theory was that adding additional channels enable the coral to be more tolerant towards higher intensities.
So even if the higher end of the spectrum only adds just a little intensity compared to the lower end, it still is important to have it in order to use the lower end of spectrum this high.

I’ve seen many people that were able to burn their acros with the Uno, as well as other fixtures - and just from glancing at their spectrum there was always a common dominator - tons of blue, and very little to no white/red/yellow/green.

Of course, there are more parameters that come to play here, like chemistry and flow - but even then I looked and compared, and they weren’t much different than mine.

Just my own interesting observation.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I’m running full Hybrid lighting, LED/T5/Halide. So a very white 5 hr peak. 400 par on the sand. The acros love it.